Entries tagged with: superbowl

Move over Hodor, there's a new TV star DJ in town. RJ Mitte, better known as Walt Jr. from Breaking Bad, will come to NYC to DJ BB King's on April 10. And the event is called Breaking Beats. Tickets are on sale now for $35 (the $30 early bird option is sold out), which is almost $30 less than Hodor's DJ set at the same venue was.

You probably saw that over the weekend Bryan Cranston reprised his role as Walt Sr. in a Super Bowl commercial for Esurance. You can watch the extended cut below...

There aren't really many exciting shows tonight, considering most people are probably getting together with their friends, filling up on chips, dip, beer, and watching The Patriots play The Seahawks in Super Bowl XLIX. This year's halftime show has Katy Perry (yaaaaay), and she's saying she'll bring out Missy Elliot, Lenny Kravitz and other guests.

A few NYC venues are hosting Super Bowl parties, including The Bell House, Brooklyn Bowl and Union Hall (which also has an improv comedy show with SNL writers in the other room).

You may remember that the NFL was seeking a $1.5 million fine from M.I.A. for the "offensive gesture" (flippin' the bird) she let fly during the 2012 Super Bowl Halftime show. The Hollywood Reporter reports today that the National Football League is not only still seeking that fine, but also an additional $15.1 million in compensatory damages -- the alleged value of the public exposure she received for the two minutes she was on television.

The singer says there can't be liability or damage based on speculative FCC action, and her legal papers say it is "implausible" that any indecency fine will come after years of regulatory inaction and recent decisions at the U.S. Supreme Court.

What's more, the responsibility of broadcaster NBC could be investigated as the arbitration continues forward.

"NFL, and NBC, failed to exercise ordinary care in the conduct of the Halftime show by not activating the '5 second delay' system in place for the broadcast," says M.I.A.'s papers. "Any alleged fault or liability of Respondents should be diminished by NBC's dereliction. Discovery has not been taken yet to determine whether contractually NBC owed a duty to NFL to properly operate the delay system. Very likely that is indeed the case." - [THR]

De La Soul's groundbreaking debut album, 1989's 3 Feet High and Rising, turns 25 this year. To celebrate, the Long Island trio are offerning up their entire catalog as a free download (320kbs MP3s) for 25 hours on the group's websitestarting today at 11 AM EST. MC Posdnuos told Rolling Stone:

It's about allowing our fans who have been looking and trying to get a hold of our music to have access to it. It's been too long where our fans haven't had access to everything. This is our way of showing them how much we love them.

De La Soul were among the classic hip hop acts who played one of the Bud Light Hotel cruises (1/31) that happened during Super Bowl mania here in NYC. The Roots, Run DMC, Naughty by Nature, Busta Rhymes, Slick Rick & Doug E Fresh, were among the other performers and a belated set of pictures from that are in this post.

Meanwhile, Maseo of De La Soul will be DJing at East Village club Fat Buddha on Monday (2/17) with DJ Mike Loe & Chosun. Doors are at 8PM and it's free.

When we were asked by the NFL and Bruno to play our song Give It Away at the Super Bowl, it was made clear to us that the vocals would be live, but the bass, drums, and guitar would be pre-recorded. I understand the NFL's stance on this, given they only have a few minutes to set up the stage, there a zillion things that could go wrong and ruin the sound for the folks watching in the stadium and the t.v. viewers. There was not any room for argument on this, the NFL does not want to risk their show being botched by bad sound, period.

The Red Hot Chili Peppers stance on any sort of miming has been that we will absolutely not do it. The last time we did it (or tried to) was in the late 80's, we were thrown off of 'The Top Of the Pops' television program in the U.K. during rehearsals because we refused to mime properly, I played bass with my shoe, John played guitar atop Anthony's shoulders, and we basically had a wrestling match onstage, making a mockery of the idea that it was a real live performance.

We mimed on one or two weird MTV shows before that and it always was a drag. We take our music playing seriously, it is a sacred thing for us, and anyone who has ever seen us in concert (like the night before the Super Bowl at the Barclays Center), knows that we play from our heart, we improvise spontaneously, take musical risks, and sweat blood at every show. We have been on the road for 31 years doing it.

So, when this Super Bowl gig concept came up, there was a lot of confusion amongst us as whether or not we should do it, but we eventually decided, it was a surreal-like, once in a life time crazy thing to do and we would just have fun and do it. We had given this a lot of thought before agreeing to do it, and besides many a long conversation amongst ourselves, I spoke with many musician friends for whom I have the utmost respect, and they all said they would do it if asked, that it was a wild trippy thing to do, what the hell. Plus, we the RHCP all love football too and that played a big part in our decision. We decided that, with Anthony singing live, that we could still bring the spirit and freedom of what we do into the performance, and of course we played every note in the recording specially for the gig. I met and spoke with Bruno, who was a beautiful dude, a real talented musician, and we worked out something that seemed like it would be fun.

We recorded a track for the day, just banged one out from our hearts that was very like in spirit to the versions we have been playing live the last few years with our beloved Josh on guitar.

For the actual performance, Josh, Chad, and I were playing along with the pre recorded track so there was no need to plug in our guitars, so we did not. Could we have plugged them in and avoided bumming people out who have expressed disappointment that the instrumental track was pre recorded? Of course easily we could have and this would be a non-issue. We thought it better to not pretend. It seemed like the realest thing to do in the circumstance. It was like making a music video in front of a gazillion people, except with live vocals, and only one chance to rock it. Our only thought was to bring the spirit of who we are to the people.

I am grateful to the NFL for having us. And I am grateful to Bruno, who is a super talented young man for inviting us to be a part of his gig. I would do it all the same way again.

We, as a band, aspire to grow as musicians and songwriters, and to continue to play our guts out live onstage for anyone who wants to get their brains blown out.

Red Hot Chili Peppers came to NYC for Super Bowl weekend, playing a WFAN-presented pre-game show at Barclays Center on Saturday (2/1) with MS MR, J. Roddy Walston & the Business, New Politics and Basic Vacation, before "crashing" Bruno Mars' halftime show to play "Give It Away." A Rolling Stone review of the Barclays show points out that Flea said it was "one last blowout" before they "go into a period of hibernation and make a new record." The review continues:

Even though the band's first record turns 30 this year, it focused its set list on the last decade or so. The Chili Peppers' cover of Stevie Wonder's "Higher Ground" - a punky highlight in the show - was the only Eighties song the group played. Instead they focused on hits ("Under the Bridge," "Californication") and the finer points of their most recent album, 2011's I'm With You, like the sex-charged "The Adventures of Rain Dance Maggie." It was a party.

Pictures of all five bands from the Barclays show are in this post.

More pics, RHCP's setlist, and a video of them playing with Bruno Mars during the halftime show in case you need to see that again, below...

It's Super Bowl Sunday which means there's almost nothing going on tonight. If you're adamant about not watching the game there are a few interesting music options. You can browse our full NYC show calendar for all of tonight's shows, but here are some highlights...

Kim Gordon, Jutta Koether @ MoMA PS1
This is the closing party for the Mike Kelly retrospective and for it Kim Gordon and and visual artist Jutta Koether are creating a unique event for the occasion. This is an afternoon event, 4 PM.

Nous @ Baby's All Right
Also pretty far removed from the Superbowl, Nous are a new experimental project from composer Christopher Bono, with the talents of Greg Fox, Thor Harris, Shahzad Ismaily, Grey Mcmurray, and others. They just played their first ever show last night at Basilica Hudson, and this is their NYC debut. There's an ambient piece from 7:45 PM, with the proper performance beginning at 8 PM.

This past Sunday's Grammys telecast is behind us, but another televised event that will have a ton of Americans in front of their TVs happens this Sunday (2/2): the Super Bowl. A bunch of NYC-area concerts have been announced for the weekend-wide celebration, and since we last spoke, even more have been added.

NYC punk/new wave legends Blondie will play a FREE show at the Super Bowl Boulevard Concert Stage on Saturday (2/1). The stage is located in downtown Manhattan at Broadway & 40th Street, and Blondie go on at 8:30 PM. Blondie are also set to speak and perform at SXSW this year.

Jay Z (who performed and won an award at the Grammys) is also playing a Super Bowl concert. His happens on Saturday and is an invite-only DirecTV party.

Howard Stern's 60th Birthday Bash happens Friday (1/31) at Hammerstein Ballroom at 6 PM and will stream on SiriusXM. Jimmy Kimmel is hosting the event, and guests include Louis C.K., David Letterman, Sarah Silverman, Jon Bon Jovi, John Fogerty, Steven Tyler and others. Hopefully if you're there you'll get to see Steven Tyler dance again.

Meanwhile, catch Louis CK and the Arctic Monkeys on the Late Show with David Letterman tonight (1/27).

There's also ASPIRE'S Ultimate 70s Soul Party with The O Jays at Time Warner Cable Studios and the 15th Annual NFL SUper Bowl Gospel Celebration with Patti Labelle, Mary Mary, Natalie Grant, Tamela Mann and Donnie McClurkin at MSG, both on Friday.

Prince has long been known for not liking others to take what's his -- even if that means taking a photo of him or covering one of his songs. He's just sued 22 Facebook users and Google Blogger account-holders for $1 million each, claiming they "engage in massive infringement and bootlegging of Prince's material." The Lawsuit names Dan Chodera, Karina Jindrova, and 20 other anonymous defendants. Reports SPIN:

Prince asks for a jury trial, which, though highly unlikely, would have to make for some fascinating courtroom drama. In addition to the $22 million total in damages, Prince wants the defendants permanently blocked from infringing on his copyrights. He also wants them to forfeit any money they may have made from his music -- with interest -- and to return any "unlawful materials" to their rightful Purple custody.

In other news, Prince is planning a series of London concerts which he's announcing on February 3.

The day before that press conference, the usually camera-shy Prince will appear an episode of FOX sitcom The New Girl that will air directly after the Super Bowl (2/2). You can watch a trailer for that below.

Some of you may remember "The Super Bowl Shuffle," a Sugarhill Gang style rap single recorded by the Chicago Bears Shufflin' Crew at the tail end of 1985. (The Bears would go on to win Super Bowl XX a couple months later.) Featuring verses by Walter Payton, Jim McMahon, William "Refrigerator" Perry and other members of the team, the six-minute single featured awkward rapping (and worse dancing in the video)...but you couldn't turn on a radio without hearing it. If you missed this blip of pop culture history, you can watch the original music video below.

With two weeks until Super Bowl XLVIII -- which is happening in the NYC-area (with lots of concerts) if you just woke up from a coma -- Sean Cannon of WFPK's "After Dark" has orchestrated a cover of "The Superbowl Shuffle" featuring a veritable Who's Who of indie rock, internet, and comedy talent, including Jim James (of My Morning Jacket), Tim Harrington (of Les Savy Fav), Tom Scharpling (of The Best Show), web cat Lil Bub, wrestler Colt Cabana, John Roderick (of The Long Winters), filmmaker David Wain (Wet Hot American Summer), Comedy Bang! Bang!'s Scott Aukerman, Kyle Kinane, and occasional BV contributor and WFMU DJ Dave Hill (who plays guitar on the cover). Proceeds from sales of this 2014 version of "The Superbowl Shuffle" (which keeps the original rhymes) go to Reading is Fundamental.

Just how did this come about? Cannon offers up a lengthy/labyrinthine explanation which you can read, while listening to the song, below...

BRUNO MARS has invited the RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS to join him during the PEPSI SUPER BOWL XLVIII HALFTIME SHOW on FOX in MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ on Sunday, February 2, 2014, it was announced today during FOX's broadcast of the NFC Divisional Playoff game featuring the New Orleans Saints at Seattle Seahawks.

Bruno Mars first announced his Super Bowl Halftime performance during an unprecedented live announcement on FOX NFL SUNDAY in New York City's Times Square just before kickoff of the first Sunday of the 2013 season.

We just posted updates to the Super Bowl weekend NYC concerts, which now feature shows from Red Hot Chili Peppers, Foo FIghters, Black Keys, The Roots, Janelle Monae, TLC, Drake, and more, and now we've realized there's one more big one we missed: Kendrick Lamar will play the ESPN Super Bowl Party on January 31 on Pier 36 with Robin Thicke and Jermaine Dupri.

VH1 is presenting the Super Bowl Blitz Concert Series which features J. Cole at Queens College on 1/27 followed by Janelle Monae at Lehman College on 1/28, and then TLC at Beacon Theatre on 1/30, in addition to concerts by Fall Out Boy, Goo Goo Dolls, and Gavin DeGraw. Tickets for the J. Cole show go on sale today (1/10) at noon. Ticket info for the Janelle Monae and TLC shows TBA, so stay tuned. Full schedule for the concert series below.

The J. Cole show happens one day before his previously announced tour hits the Theatre at MSG (1/28), which now appears sold out.

There's also another Super Bowl concert presented by Time Warner Cable Studios happening at the Highline Stages from January 27 to February 1. Those include Fox Sports 1's Thursday Night Super Bash with Kings of Leon on 1/30 and one hosted by Diddy's Revolt TV on 2/1 with Drake and Diddy. Head here for more information and a chance to gain entry to these shows.

We just mentioned that Red Hot Chili Peppers will play a WFAN-presented show at Barclays Center on February 1, and since we last spoke it's been announced that the RHCP show is part of a number of pre-Super Bowl shows happening in NYC before the game happens on February 2 at MetLife Stadium.

A few of those shows happen on the Bud Light Hotel, aka a heavily-branded cruise ship in the Hudson River that will be hosting festivities for the weekend. One of those happens on January 30 with The Roots, Run DMC, Busta Rhymes and more guests TBA.

Another one happens on February 1 with the Foo Fighters and Zac Brown Band, whose new album was produced by Dave Grohl.

CBS also reports that for the week leading up to the Super Bowl, Times Square will be on lockdown: "Starting at midnight on Jan. 26 through Feb. 1, Broadway from 33d Street to 48th Street will be closed to vehicles. In addition, 41st Street will be closed from 9 a.m. to midnight."

The performer for this year's halftime show is Bruno Mars. All Bud Light Hotel concerts are listed below...

MIA's new album, Matangi, came out this week. Surrounding that, Maya talked with NPR where she explained a little about the album title (Matangi is the Hindu goddess of music), which also relates to her troubles with a certain "offensive gesture" during the 2012 Superbowl that she now claims was actually a Hindu hand gesture:

It's the Matangi mudra... in America you have gang signs, and people throw up initials and stuff like that. Well, 5,000 years ago, there was thing called a mudra, which is your sitting position when you do yoga or you're meditating or praying or whatever. And you have different ones based on what you're meditating over. There's not a lot of them that are named after gods and goddesses, but the middle finger is specifically named Matangi -- the Matangi mudra.

NPR followed that, basically, with a "really?" to which Maya replied, "Yes. Do you like that? (Laughing) It's good, isn't it?."

While we're still feeling aftershocks from MIA's bird-flipping incident during the 2012 Super Bowl Halftime show, there is currently an online petition to get GWAR for the 2015 Halftime show. So far, nearly 40,000 people have signed it. GWAR have officially endorsed this, with bandleader Oderus Urungus saying:

It has long been the joy of GWAR to submit the human race to any number of hideous tortures, and I can't think of anything more horrible than you having to watch acts like The Black-Eyed Peas and Bruno Mars perform. So the temptation to ignore this is great! But then you start thinking about all of the people that who have never experienced GWAR before, and will be forced to do so if we do get the gig, well, at that point my colossal mega-ego kicks in and I am all over it.

Meanwhile, in the present, GWAR (who played Riotfest Chicago recently) released their new CD, Battle Maximus last week (9/17), and you can stream the title track below. They'll be on tour for most of the fall. While none of those dates hit NYC, they have announced a short run of holiday shows in December that includes a stop in NYC at Irving Plaza on December 27. Tickets for that show go on sale Friday (9/27) at 11 AM. All tour dates are listed below.

You may remember that M.I.A.flipped the bird during the Madonna-centric Halftime Show telecast of the 2012 Superbowl and that raised digit caused a bunch of controversy. A year and a half later, most of us probably assumed this all just went away, but it didn't. M.I.A. has made public -- to the Hollywood Reporter -- that the NFL has been quietly waging legal war against her, and is demanding she pay a $1.5 million fine for the "offensive gesture ... flagrant disregard for the values that form the cornerstone of the NFL brand and the Super Bowl." Last night M.I.A. released her official statement on the whole thing:

The NFL thing is completely ridiculous. It's been making me laugh for a while, but now it's so boring I don't even laugh anymore. So the precise moment in question, and you can actually freeze-frame this as many media outlets have. The frame you're looking for has my middle finger in the foreground, and the larger picture where it zooms out is a row of 10-15 cheerleaders, young black females, that Madonna got from a local high school in Indianapolis, and they were all under 16. If you look at them, they're all wearing cheerleader outfits, hips thrusted in the air, legs wide open, in this very sexually provocative position.

So, now, they're scapegoating me into figuring out the goalposts on what is offensive in America. Like, is my finger offensive, or is the underage black girl with her legs wide open more offensive to the family audience? That's basically what it comes down to. It's a massive waste of time, a massive waste of money, it's a massive display of powerful corporation dick-shaking. They want me on my knees and say sorry so they can slap me on my wrist. Basically, so they can say it's OK for me to promote being sexually exploited as a female than to display female empowerment through being punk rock. That is what it boils down to, and I'm being sued for it.

In other news, it looks like M.I.A.'s much-delayed fourth album, Matangi, is really coming out on November 5. She just released the cover art today via her instragram and that's it at the top of this post.

You can stream the latest taste of Matangi, "Come Walk with Me," below...

Andrew WK keeps pretty busy and has a few things going on this week. He'll appear at Upright Citizens Brigade tomorrow (2/5) as part of a live podcast with Marnie Stern. He'll appear on Fox News' Red Eye on Feb 7 at 3AM. And last but not least, he is offering 55 Cadillac on double-LP for a reduced price for the rest of this week too. Get yours via the party maniac.

Beyonce used all manner of explosions, smoke machines, fire, LEDs, back-up dancers, not to mention her old bandmates, Destiny's Child, to add zazz to her bombastic Super Bowl XLVII Halftime show (2/3). You can watch the entire performance below. Look closely for Beyonce's alleged flash of the Illuminati symbol (above) that's causing all the rage on twitter, though those that don't believe in conspiracy theories will probably just tell you that her husband Jay-Z throws that up to symbolize Roc-A-Fella, like on his The Dynasty: Roc La Familia LP art, the cover of his Fade to Black movie, and in countless videos and live shows.

Superfans who missed the show are in luck, though. Beyonce has announced a massive set of dates called the Mrs. Carter Show World Tour that will kick off in Serbia and head back to North America during a second leg this summer. The tour comes to a close in Brooklyn on August 3 at Barclays Center. Tickets go on sale Monday, Feb 11 at 10 AM. Maybe this is a sign that her new album will be announced soon?

A list of all tour dates, the video of the half-time show, and the damning signs of the Illuminati during the Destiny's Child performance are below...

Justin Timberlake made his live return after a five-year absence from the stage at a DirecTV party in New Orleans last night (2/2) and brought out Jay-Z for his verse on JT's new single, "Suit and Tie." You can watch a video of that below. Since Justin's in New Orleans, it's looking like there's a chance that he too will come on stage with Beyonce tonight? If he does, hopefully things go better than last time JT played the Super Bowl.

Super Bowl XLVII is around the corner (February 3), and you already know that in between the Ravens taking on the 49ers and all the (hopefully) funny commercials, Beyonce is playing the halftime show and she'll also be bringing out her reunited Destiny's Child for a portion of it.

But if you're in NYC and seeing Beyonce on TV isn't your thing, you can head to Santos Party House to watch the game and catch venue owner Andrew WK performing live during halftime. That show also includes MC Todd and Aleister X and tickets are on sale now, and include a free drink (so needless to say, admission is 21+) and Roberta's pizza (not free).

Andrew WK has a few other dates coming up, including a solo set at Skate and Surf Festival in New Jersey, and all of those are listed below...

If it is true that Beyonce did lip-sync at Monday's inauguration, she wouldn't be the first artist to perform that way at a major national event. Here are a few examples:

* In 1991, Whitney Houston lip-synced her iconic interpretation of "The Star Spangled Banner" at the Super Bowl.
* Oscar-winner and former "American Idol" contestant Jennifer Hudson did the same thing with the anthem at the Super Bowl in 2009.
* Faith Hill also performed to a backing track for "America The Beautiful" at the same event in 2009.
* At President Obama's first inauguration in 2009, Yo-Yo Ma's performance came into question over "hand syncing." The acclaimed cellist had said the instruments weren't working properly in the very cold weather.

There were even reports that speculated Madonna was lip-syncing during her appearance at the 2012 Super Bowl half-time show. "The only thing Madonna proved during the Super Bowl 46 show is her irrelevance; the halftime show was so obviously lip synced that it was painful," wrote SBNation's JP Starkey. [CBS]